Meryl said: "Jim Broadbent is so deeply funny as an actor, even in the most serious roles.

"It's a quality of tender humanity that's just very touching."

But the Oscar-winning actress admitted that walking onto the film's male dominated set for the first time was an intimidating experience.

"For me as an actor, just walking in to the first day of rehearsal was incredibly daunting, because there were all these wonderful British actors, and I think there were about 40 or 45 of them and I was the only woman in the room," she said.

"And I sort of had the feeling Margaret Thatcher must have had when she walked into the Conservative Party."